UNH- How Far West Do We Go?

[Chuck Murray]

And to elaborate, Rookie of the Weak was part of a spin on Milk Carton Missing Kids by a BC pinhead poster whose screen name was something like BobF, IIRC. Maybe Nick P will clarify.

Not 100% sure, but I think it was SteveF (or FSteve as some of those he annoyed lovingly referred to him). Sadly, I believe SteveF has passed. Nick will sort this out once he gets here later this week, what with the big UNH-BC clash just over the horizon now. Back in the day, the week before these games was must-read USCHO time. And I know this fact will bend some minds on here, but well into the Umile Era, UNH actually held an overall winning record over BC. Debates often tended to gravitate towards which program had the worst post-season record. UNH actually beat BC in postseason games back in the mid-'90's, until Coach York built BC into the dominant program that enjoyed its peak years after the turn of the century. But even into the early part of those years, I believe UNH still had a (very narrow) lead in the overall series with BC. I haven't looked it up recently, but I'm guessing it's now at least a +20 for BC in that series.

 

[HockeyRef]

It was good to see the team respond to the timeout, but a lot too late. This team is not good enough to go down 4-1 and comeback.

This team needs to play basic hockey. Make good passes, break out of the zone and control the puck. When they did this later in the game they had sustained pressure that resulted in a ton of A+ changes, just had some bad puck luck and did not get the bounces.

They can't be curling around the net and trying to make moves out front, which was the demise of this game when Oliver did that. Also our D is slow, the 2 on 1's given up last night were plentiful and this hung Whale out to dry. None of the goals were his fault and I believe the switch was a team message not an indication on his play.

And probably the most infuriating thing of the night was the NU student section who were in the lower section just off of the UNH bench and stood the entire game. That meant anyone in two sections behind the bench could not see half the zone. I get Walter Brown is a dump and small but there were plenty of sections 100% open where they could have stood and not blocked everyone's view. At least tickets were free

I wondered where you went! Agree on all points...when the dog house was chanting 'let's go huskies' we were chanting 'homeless Huskies'

 

[Snively65]

Not 100% sure, but I think it was SteveF (or FSteve as some of those he annoyed lovingly referred to him). Sadly, I believe SteveF has passed. Nick will sort this out once he gets here later this week, what with the big UNH-BC clash just over the horizon now. Back in the day, the week before these games was must-read USCHO time. And I know this fact will bend some minds on here, but well into the Umile Era, UNH actually held an overall winning record over BC. Debates often tended to gravitate towards which program had the worst post-season record. UNH actually beat BC in postseason games back in the mid-'90's, until Coach York built BC into the dominant program that enjoyed its peak years after the turn of the century. But even into the early part of those years, I believe UNH still had a (very narrow) lead in the overall series with BC. I haven't looked it up recently, but I'm guessing it's now at least a +20 for BC in that series.

Yes, I think that you are correct about the author of the Milk Carton missing-in-action opposition players being SteveF I thought that his posts were incredibly creative and very funny. R.I.P., SteveF.

 

[norbert]

I wondered where you went! Agree on all points...when the dog house was chanting 'let's go huskies' we were chanting 'homeless Huskies'

I stood behind you during the game so I could see and left after the empty net goal to try and best some of the weather.

 

[Chuck Murray]

While I agree it is likely time to move on from MS7, do we trust the AD to make the right decision on hiring the new coach? The process for hiring the new football coach didn’t inspire a lot of confidence in me, and I think former coach Mac played a HEAVY hand with picking Goldrich, despite his never being a HC prior, even an OC/DC… I didn’t really buy in to the “national search” that was supposedly undertaken. I would be really interested to hear who else was on that “list”, if it is ever released (likely we will never find out). Don’t get me wrong, I wish Goldrich all the best, as I have some very fond memories watching him lead UNH football to some of their best years in recent time. Still, I find it hard to believe there weren’t more qualified candidates with a longer track record as coaches.

That's why I mentioned Jimmy T as the guy who is likely gonna have to lead that process. Umile had his chance a decade ago, and we are where we are due to his "prowess" in determining a quality successor. Having a little more insight today into MS7's background than I have previously, I can better understand the pressure Umile might have felt in recommending his former player over other more experienced candidates. I'll just leave that comment where it is, at least for now.

FWIW I don't doubt for a second there may have been a "national search", but not in the way you usually think of that term. With the money surrounding many of the college football head coaching jobs out there these days, I very much doubt UNH was gonna attract anyone other than Goodrich or someone else like him, with the same overall coaching profile and experience (or lack thereof). Experienced guys at this level are only a good season or two away from bigger salaries at the next level (see Santos and the Ivies), and guys who can piece together a winning resume at that next level are only a good season or two away from being the next Curt Cignetti and eight figure long term contracts. The pool for guys looking at UNH Football isn't especially experienced or deep as we might otherwise think it should be.

If the same logic follows with hockey, I presume Umile would be leaned on heavily to help with this process, and I think he again would look to one of his former players. The closest that comes to mind is Ayers, who has been with BC for 12-13(?) years now, and also had coaching experience before then. Not sure of any other UNH alumni in the coaching field (at any level) but I think that would be the lowest hanging fruit to pick from.

The difference between Umile and MacDonnell is that the latter - who presumably had some say in the selection of Santos as his successor - actually made a recommendation that didn't sink his former program like Umile did. Santos may not have had his teams perennially in the playoffs, but they did get there a few times, and for the most part his teams weren't that far removed from most of MacDonnell's teams. If only Umile had made an "almost as good" coach his successor ... instead, we went from an over the hill guy who did have a roadmap to (if not through) the postseason, to an underqualified guy who doesn't have a map beyond the first MBPBEGAM round into the slightest semblance of a real postseason. So Umile's feedback sadly must be tolerated at most, and any real feedback MUST come from Tortorella as the so-called GM of UNH Hockey. He could do worse than hire himself and two new associate coaches, but my hope would either be a Coach Boguniecki/Coach Ayers type with a pair of new assistants to freshen up the place, or to go the route of the experienced assistant from afar (as in Coach Barr) who would bring instant credibility to the program. But every year we wait for some miracle to happen with the current HC is a wasted year for the program, and digs the hole ever deeper.

 

[Darius]

Yeah, I suspect that ship has sailed, if ever there was a ship to be sailed on this issue. Trying to track MS7's roster construction planning certainly hasn't been an easy task, and I get that things have changed in recent years. Gone are the days of Umile and Lassonde's goalie conveyor belt with regular intervals, that's for sure.

 

[Potluck]

UNH cannot fire and hire a successor to Souza unless it first does a complete evaluation of its future in HE and as a D1 hockey program. It’s a program that is far behind in many ways. Facilities , NIL funding, funding to match at least the median of HE programs are all lacking.

The New Hampshire hillbilly approach (let someone from Massachusetts pay my share because that’s my way life) is not going to cut it. If UNH isn’t going to properly fund its program leaving Hockey Easy makes sense.

 

[bakchk20]

UNH cannot fire and hire a successor to Souza unless it first does a complete evaluation of its future in HE and as a D1 hockey program. It’s a program that is far behind in many ways. Facilities , NIL funding, funding to match at least the median of HE programs are all lacking.

The New Hampshire hillbilly approach (let someone from Massachusetts pay my share because that’s my way life) is not going to cut it. If UNH isn’t going to properly fund its program leaving Hockey Easy makes sense.

I don't usually follow along with your posts (I'll let you guys do your battles!), except maybe for the rare one that has to do with UNH hockey. But this regular mantra has me scratching my head cuz if there's a correleation between state funding (Mass being wealthy beyond measure, especially in comparison to hillbilly NH) and D-1 athletic "success", how do you reconcile the UMASS football program, currently crapping itself in D-1 with an embarrassing, aggregate 18-94 W/L record over the recent decade, 0-12 this past season?

 

[Potluck]

I don't usually follow along with your posts (I'll let you guys do your battles!), except maybe for the rare one that has to do with UNH hockey. But this regular mantra has me scratching my head cuz if there's a correleation between state funding (Mass being wealthy beyond measure, especially in comparison to hillbilly NH) and D-1 athletic "success", how do you reconcile the UMASS football program, currently crapping itself in D-1 with an embarrassing, aggregate 18-94 W/L record over the recent decade, 0-12 this past season?

Great question. There was never a demand for D 1 football at UMass nor has there EVER been any commitment from the state. That’s why it’s failing

 

[HockeyRef]

That's why I mentioned Jimmy T as the guy who is likely gonna have to lead that process. Umile had his chance a decade ago, and we are where we are due to his "prowess" in determining a quality successor. Having a little more insight today into MS7's background than I have previously, I can better understand the pressure Umile might have felt in recommending his former player over other more experienced candidates. I'll just leave that comment where it is, at least for now.

FWIW I don't doubt for a second there may have been a "national search", but not in the way you usually think of that term. With the money surrounding many of the college football head coaching jobs out there these days, I very much doubt UNH was gonna attract anyone other than Goodrich or someone else like him, with the same overall coaching profile and experience (or lack thereof). Experienced guys at this level are only a good season or two away from bigger salaries at the next level (see Santos and the Ivies), and guys who can piece together a winning resume at that next level are only a good season or two away from being the next Curt Cignetti and eight figure long term contracts. The pool for guys looking at UNH Football isn't especially experienced or deep as we might otherwise think it should be.


The difference between Umile and MacDonnell is that the latter - who presumably had some say in the selection of Santos as his successor - actually made a recommendation that didn't sink his former program like Umile did. Santos may not have had his teams perennially in the playoffs, but they did get there a few times, and for the most part his teams weren't that far removed from most of MacDonnell's teams. If only Umile had made an "almost as good" coach his successor ... instead, we went from an over the hill guy who did have a roadmap to (if not through) the postseason, to an underqualified guy who doesn't have a map beyond the first MBPBEGAM round into the slightest semblance of a real postseason. So Umile's feedback sadly must be tolerated at most, and any real feedback MUST come from Tortorella as the so-called GM of UNH Hockey. He could do worse than hire himself and two new associate coaches, but my hope would either be a Coach Boguniecki/Coach Ayers type with a pair of new assistants to freshen up the place, or to go the route of the experienced assistant from afar (as in Coach Barr) who would bring instant credibility to the program. But every year we wait for some miracle to happen with the current HC is a wasted year for the program, and digs the hole ever deeper.

A good friend of mine says this about being in a hole...simple...stop digging! Good point all around. Seems this convo comes up almost on a yearly basis and the interesting part is nothing changes.

That said I wish the team well going forward. I think if you were there Sunday the intensity was there most of the game. Had some decent chances. Yeah mistakes were made as Norbert pointed out. Was glad Cy got the 'scoring monkey ' off his back hope it continues.

Kudos to NU for their sweep. Oh and in the event you need a place to hold a first round HE game....

UNH cannot fire and hire a successor to Souza unless it first does a complete evaluation of its future in HE and as a D1 hockey program. It’s a program that is far behind in many ways. Facilities , NIL funding, funding to match at least the median of HE programs are all lacking.

The New Hampshire hillbilly approach (let someone from Massachusetts pay my share because that’s my way life) is not going to cut it. If UNH isn’t going to properly fund its program leaving Hockey

 

[JB]

UNH cannot fire and hire a successor to Souza unless it first does a complete evaluation of its future in HE and as a D1 hockey program. It’s a program that is far behind in many ways. Facilities , NIL funding, funding to match at least the median of HE programs are all lacking.

The New Hampshire hillbilly approach (let someone from Massachusetts pay my share because that’s my way life) is not going to cut it. If UNH isn’t going to properly fund its program leaving Hockey Easy makes sense.

After my last post on this topic where I referenced pulling the MIT technology hub out, what it would do to the Massachusetts economy, I did some further thinking along that line.

You like to point to "let someone from Massachusetts pay my share" because you apparently have something up your @ss about NH. Your angle over and over is about Mass Tax Policy and funding of Universities and that commitment driving the economy. Remember your flippant BS that UNH has never contributed anything, which I debunked without doing research?

Well Massachusetts taxes funding universities is not what is driving the Boston (entire regions) economy. That inside 128 or inside 495 economic engine is primarily driven by MIT and Harvard. This is why NSFs latest technology program is called "NSF Engines" they are actively trying to create the MIT/Stanford/Research Triangle economic engine model in other places, like Chicago.

If we look in the Boston metro there are 40 colleges and universities. The 6 majors (MIT, Harvard, BU, BC, NU, Tufts) are all private, not Mass State funded. The only state funded locations inside that innovation hub is Umass Boston, MassArt, 5 community colleges and 3 "States" (Framingham, Bridgewater and Salem), those 10 definitely not the drivers, maybe not even passengers. This basically makes your taxation argument a load of crap, which we all already knew. NOTE: I still believe the best investment a society can make in its own future is education particularly in STEM fields.

Like everybody else, yes, UNH is going to need to find some donors. This is true for ALL - you still haven't found one good example. Your last 3 were crap, which I also debunked.

There is a miniscule chance that UNH leaves Hockey East or D1 Hockey at this point. They will replace the (incompetent) coach first and probably run through at least a couple more before this is even considered.

Unfortunately my faith in the UNH Admin is limited, I still think (sadly) it is a coin flip if MS7 can convince them he is on the right track and just needs a little more time.